Court Orders Forfeiture of Almost $100K Seized From ‘Chronic High-Stakes Gambler’ Branavan Kanapathipillai
Branavan Kanapathipillai was found to have had 12 aliases, 14 addresses, 13 phone numbers, five driver’s licences and various dates of birth. And now the court ordered $100,000 seized from Kanapathipillai (apparently his real name), who described himself as a "chronic high stakes gambler". He claims to have had this "condition" for the last 20 years.
Kanapathipillai lost his fight to have almost $100,000 seized at a Niagara casino returned after a court ruled the funds were likely the result of money laundering.
The Attorney General of Ontario had sought an order forfeiting $99,200 which had been seized by police at Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort in 2022 under the Civil Remedies Act. The $100,000 transaction was flagged as suspicious by a cashier at the casino.
“In my view, the AG has established through the evidence provided that, on the balance of probabilities, that part or all the moneys seized are from unlawful activity,” Judge Phillip Sutherland said in his decision.
“The vast sums of moneys with no stated source and the structure of these transactions allowing him to withdraw moneys from various bank accounts, personal and corporate, are all in suspicious circumstances,” the judge said in his decision.
Kanapathipillai claimed the funds were obtained from a third mortgage and a line of credit.
Toronto lawyer James Foy said Thursday his client plans to appeal the decision.
“Mr. Kanapathipillai is disappointed with the decision and intends to appeal because of the errors made by the judge,” he said.
“He looks forward to the return of his lawful property.”
Kanapathipillai is alleged to have engage in money laundering at various Toronto-area casinos, racking up millions of dollars in transactions.
From CTV News Toronto:
His buy-ins were a significant portion of the total suspicious transactions reported across Ontario gaming facilities, which roared back from a pandemic low of $116 million to $372 million last year, records show.
Kanapathapillai’s apparent ease in depositing and withdrawing millions over the span of years shows that while casinos are reporting the transactions, those reports aren’t being acted on fast enough, said retired RCMP money laundering specialist Garry Clement.
“It’s a terrible thing to say, but it’s open season for individuals like this,” Clement said in an interview this week, saying that casinos need to do more than file reports — they must also take steps to keep the individual out.
“These seem pretty obvious. There’s more to this than just gambling,” he said.
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